Can someone identify this fiber connector please, and educate this newbie?

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jviss

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Location
Massachusetts
# of dives
100 - 199
Greetings,
I have a Watershot WDS-450D housing and it has two fiber optic bulkhead connectors. The divert light from the popped-up camera flash to fire external strobes.

I do not know much of anything about fiber connectors and protocols. I'd like to know what this is that I have, who makes it, what kind of cable is used, and so forth.

In the annotated, exploded view you can see that the clear piece (5) presses into the body (4), sealing via the O-ring on the plastic piece. The deflector (3) is placed on the projection of (5) and the E-clip is pressed into the bottom groove on (5) to secure it. Item (6) is dropped onto (5) with the O-ring on (6) facing (5). The cap (7) screws down on this this. (4) passes through the bulkhead and has an O-ring on the facing surface. The nut (1) secures it.

Any help on this is sincerely appreciated.

Thanks,

jv
Fiber Bulkhead Connector Assembly small.jpeg
Fiber Bulkhead Connector Top View small.jpeg
Fiber Bulkhead Connector Exploded View Annotated small.jpeg
 
What type of strobes do you have? What brand-model-numbers are they?

Based on what I’ve been able to search online, this product is no longer available or no longer being manufactured. By this product, I’m referring to the type of housing you have.

The way it works is that the built in flash from your Canon Camera will fire, the light passes through the prism... the clear plastic component (item No. 5) in your lineup.

The Sea&Sea connector, which is pressed in, and held in place from... that initial placement and 2 rubber orings, conveys light signal to strobe through a fiber optic cable. Storbes then react firing away. You can control, or should be able to control how much your strobes will put out as far as light intensity. You should be able to control how much your camera’s flash will put out too. That’s another topic.

I’m not familiar with the type of equipment you have. I would say that messing around with the ports can be a very tricky affair. If you don’t know much about the system, refrain from dismantling anything. I’m just cautioning in case you are not familiar at all with this underwater photography equipment.

Hope this helps. Show me more pictures of what you have, and I can probably give you additional information.

Ricardo
 
Thank you for your detailed replies, Ricardo! I don't have a strobe for this yet; I only still have my Nokonos SB-101 that I used with my Nikonos II's.

Despite the fact that I'm not up to date on equipment, I have long been acquainted with underwater photography equipment. I have a bunch of Nikonos stuff, a Rollei Marin housing with camera and bulb flash system, and more. This one is a housing for my Canon 450D DSLR, and I'd like to make it operational.

I'm an engineer and have metalworking skills, and a modest machine shop at home; so disassembling the fiber connector is no big deal. :) I'm considering making an 'economy' vacuum port for housing test before a dive, in place of one of the fiber ports. Any ideas on that are welcome!

I must say that viewing the SSHL connectors online I can't imagine how they fit with the connector I have. Mine has what's like a funnel, coming down to a hole that's about 2.5mm. Do you know where I might get a drawing of the Sea$Sea connector?
 
Ahhh. Then you just have a straight cable entry. No connector. It’s just a fiber optic cut flush or perpendicular to the surface of the prism, and inserted into the female entry, locked in with a small twist from the bulkhead. The diameter, outer diameter of the fiber optic cable is 2.3ish mm. or so. They, the fiber optic cables, go in without connectors or plugs.

As far as using one of the ports for vacuum system... Ideally you would have 2 stobes and can essently dedicate a port to each of your strobes.

It’s a good idea to have vacuum valve, and to test before using the housing. I would not sacrifice one of your fiber optic ports for that though. If you do end up having to do so, you can find dual fiber optic ports shared with one entry. Essentially, it’s a pair of cables that come out of one single fiber.

I’m attaching a couple of photos. The small plug is a Sea and Sea, this I originally though is what you had, now I’m thinking it’s not the case.

The other is just an average diameter of a fiber optic cable. These are not Sea and Sea, but Nauticam, very similar though.

Hope this helps.


This is a sea and sea plug. It’s much larger than the fiber cable per se.
46406BA2-6A7E-4386-A6A6-226282D6A30B.jpeg


55D620A6-16DC-46CC-994B-A9F27BE64A97.jpeg


Here is the cable 2+ mm.
0974760B-32DF-4B36-A47B-00AA16EAA80F.jpeg
 
BackScatter seemed to carry that particular housing. I would give than a call and see if they have a vacuum solution for your system. I know they make their own vacuum system, and perhaps they have experience fitting one of their own designs into your housing.

On another note, I am not familiar with the Canon 450 D, but I am with the 7D, which is a much older model. I’m able to throttle down the built in flash output to 1/128th of a regular flash, which allows superior multi shot performance, since the camera does not get locked down waiting for the flash to recharge itself.

If you have this, then consider getting some nice powerful strobes. I like the Inon Z240’s. They are now discontinued and replaced with the 330’s. Far superior and newer ones. In any case, they are proven workhorses. I then increase the light output manually directly in the strobes.

A mild flash from the camera tells the strobes to fire, the strobes are then controlled manually and set to whatever intensity you want, they fire and your photo is properly illuminated and exposed. Controlling things manually is a bit intimidating at first, but much better in the long run. Particularly if you want to apply your previous Nikonos experiences.

Hope this helps.
Ricardo
 
Thank you very much, Ricardo! you are very helpful. I am in your dept.

Do you know where I might buy some of that fiber optic cable, and where I might buy the kind of connector I have?
 
The fiber should be simple to find. I would suggest defining the strobe(s) first, because they will also have a connector. Very likely, something different than just a fiber optic cable.

Once you pick a strobe, then you can add a cable that on one end fits the strobe, and the other is just connector free. You can trim and cut it to your liking... just have to make sure it’s a clean cut, perpendicular and that the core of the fiber, which is clear, touches or can see the light coming from your cameras flash and through the waterproof prism.

The better cables cost more than the generic ones. The cheapest I would go is: Amazon.com: Sealife Flash Link Optical Cable Connection Sl9621: Home Audio & Theater

Ideally, I would buy something like this, but then I know this works for what I have : Nauticam Universal Optical Fiber Cable

Hope this helps...

Ricardo
 
It really looks like Sea & Sea connector, or very similar.
But I would like to remind my topic here about selfmade optical cable
selfmade Optical cable for flashlight
Using this way you will not have any problems with mismatching of your cable - you can made any diameter that you wish.
And also you can made exact diameter, fits to you connector inch-perfect.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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